From an interview with Ian West on the nature of brand knowledge:

Card sorting is a simple technique  for delivering sophisticated results in brand development. Read the post in the Brandmaster blog -
http://bit.ly/dgLnK3 to find out a little more, and there is a sample set of cards available on our downloads page.

We have all seen the branding gaffs made by even some of the world’s leading companies when taking their brands into export markets. Brand names or logos that make the products the butt of jokes or even offend, are legendary. But there are more subtle factors, which, while maybe not so obvious, can prevent the brand achieving its full potential in a market.  Worse, some things can positively hinder brand performance without the owners knowing.

We can help ensure that your brand gets a flying start in your chosen market with a fast, efficient and cost-effective Brand Internationalisation Review.

One of our consultants will spend a half day with you, looking at your brand, products and services, and discussing your export ambitions and markets. We will then review your export markets from a number of perspctives, including: culture, language, competitive positioning, protecting intellectual property, differentiation and credibility. Within 10 working days you will get back a detailed review listing practical action points for your brand performance. Our consultant will discuss the review with you and even signpost you to further resources to help you implement the proposals if necessary.

One Marketing has decades of experience working with brands in export markets with businesses of all sizes from SMEs to major blue chips. We work with language, culture and IPR specialists and brand psychologists.

The cost for this is a flat fee of £500 including review consultation, individual report and assessment, evaluation and action plan. Contact us now to find out more.

Currently preparing a programme for auditing and reviewing brands prior to taking them into international markets. Elements will include: language, culture, IPR, communications, environmental, accreditation, competitive positioning, business environment and legal barriers.

There is a new post on the Brandmaster blog, that discusses the issues of ‘concept branding’ and ‘concept marketing’. This impacts upon all aspects of creativity and innovation in business, marketing and communications. In essence, the creative process starts in a ‘glass box’, where all the background, research, analysis and planning is visible to all – it then passes briefly into the ‘black box’ where the fruits of this evaluation can be interpreted into something memorable, pedestrian or poor. Then it passes back into the glass box where the testing analysis and application process is visible and empirically understandable.

The key argument is that ideas do not spring from the ether. They are the product of pragmatic background processing. Sometimes this process is not formal, but part of the normal practice of the organisation. This in no way belittles the critical importance of brilliant creative minds who make the difference between great solutions and the mundane – but the best creatives are quick to acknowledge the importance of skilled planning.

http://bit.ly/9mYMd9

One topic that always crops up in our brand development coaching workshops with small and medium businesses is the need to think strategically about their brands – and this may often mean doing less.

First let’s consider the name – the corporate signature to give it its fancy name. When setting up a business there are a thousand things to think about, and the name is low on that list. So we tend to just say it like it is – ‘Anytown Plumbing Services’,  for instance. That has a lot going for it – it says what the business does and where it is: but things change. Let’s imagine that the heating side of the business takes off: we move into selling gas fires and that leads us into fireplaces and we open a showroom in big city down the road. All of a sudden the name seems less suitable. We are then faced with the quandary – do we change the name and write off all the investment and goodwill the brand carries, or perhaps create a second brand for fireplaces with all the hard work and investment needed to support a new brand?

The message is that we can’t foresee the future, so keep the options open. Of course it’s important in the early days to let potential customers know what we do, but far better to do that with a strapline or brand purpose statement such as ‘ABC Ltd – local, reliable plumbing and heating services’. The strapline can change easily while leaving the brand name untouched.

Don’t worry too much about the name. Remember it is just an icon for what you do and what your brand stands for – it is the values that are the important things. McDonalds, Apple, Ford, Kraft and Gucci don’t mean anything in themselves – their value lies in the association of the organizations behind them. Sure, if you can come up with a catchy, memorable name it may aid recall – and that is great, but don’t batter your head against the wall trying to dream one up – better spend the time focusing on your offer.

When thinking strategically it may be a good time to consider what your long term aim is – do you want to build a business to sell it?  If so, ask yourself the question whether it is a good idea to have your name over the door.

Spend a little time thinking golbally too. The world presents massive opportunities to do business outside your own country – the web has made it easier than ever to exploit these possibilities. So look at whether your brand will be appropriate to other markets. Does reference to your home market help (The US baseball Co, English Teas Ltd) or will it be a hindrance? Does your name translate into other languages without meaning something inappropriate? Do your corporate colours have positive or negative connotations in export markets?

We all have a lot on our minds when running small and medium businesses and often it is as much as we can do  to deal with the day-to-day issues right in front of us.  However, spending a little time to think strategically about your brand can save a lot of confusion and reactive stress in the future. One simple thing you can do is just to consider some point in the future – say three to five years away – and imagine where you would like your business to be. Don’t hold back, be as ambitious as you want – think big!  Then look at your brand – will it suit where you want to be?

If your brand does not match your ambitions for your business at that point in the future, start planning for change now. That way, change can be evolutionary not revolutionary. A gradual development will let you change without damaging all the effort and investment you have put behind your brand to date.

In details of a survey on the sustainablemarketing.com blog (really worth a visit), it was stated that worldwide some 36% of consumers had at least one brand on their black list. I have never been a strident ‘blacker’, but realise that there are some brands I avoid if if possible. The usual suspects were there of course – Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Nestle etc. And they are on my avoid list rather than an active black list – but avoid them I do.

It is interesting the reasons why people boycott brands – of course many of these big names are avoided on grounds of principle, they do not fit within the inventory of our personal values or brand narrative. Others are the subject of far more personal experience. The insurance company who made your claim impossible; the store where you had awful service or the car brand that sold you a lemon.

But at what point does a mild dislike of a brand turn into an avoidance of purchase, then to an out and out boycott?

In today’s climate of rationalisation, measurable results, ROI calculations and the rest, it is too easy to overlook the emotional dimension of communications. But it is our emotional responses that create memorable experiences. If you were asked to note your top 5 brands, favourite ads, most interesting websites etc. it would be those that stirred excitement, laughter, pleasure or moved your spirit in some way.

It is too easy to overlook the two ends of the communications channel – the people. People buy from people and are engaged by the same things -  whether this is in the consumer or the b2b sector.

We’ve just been looking at the emotional dimensions of brands – check out the post on http://bit.ly/cIQrEq.

Intangible brand assets are the important components of a brand which in turn may go to make up the lion’s share of a company’s intangible corporate assets. They fall into three categories: human, structural and communications/promotional.
There is a checklist available that you may find useful when considering a brand strategy or to help unpack a brand valuation exercise – check it out from the downloads page.
There is a fuller discussion of IBAs on the Brandmaster Blog.

We have added two whitepapers on branding from the Brandmaster blog. Check them out – follow the whitepapers link.